The Lady of Luxembourg
Pastor Ken Lawson
The tiny European nation of Luxembourg, landlocked between Germany, France, and Belgium, is a country of historical beauty and modern development. While the city of Luxembourg is a major banking area for Europe and quite sophisticated, rural Luxembourg is a pleasant combination of farmlands, pastures, and rolling hills. This small nation has a unique ambiance or atmosphere about it, distinct from its larger neighbors. Prior to nationhood, the region was controlled by various aristocratic sovereigns. The oldest section of the city of Luxembourg transports a visitor back to the Middle Ages, through stone bulwarks, towers, motes, and castle walls. During the Protestant Reformation and subsequent Roman Catholic Counter-Reformation, Luxembourg came out squarely on the side of the Church of Rome. The purpose of this article is to examine modern worship of the virgin Mary in this very Roman Catholic European country of Luxembourg.
Traveling throughout the roughly 2000 square miles of the nation of Luxembourg is an experience in observing a country completely dedicated to Roman Catholicism. The country has a unique feel to it, as images and statues of Roman Catholic saints are seen everywhere. In rural areas, roadside shrines to Mary are common, usually surrounded with flowers and candles. One especially interesting rural Marion shrine is located in the base of a gigantic beech tree in a farmer's field near the Bildchen village. Well lit by spotlights at night, this simple shrine has encased in the trunk of the tree a small porcelain statue of Mary, with benches provided for her devotees. Urban devotion to Mary is also quite prevalent, as in the downtown area there are numerous modern skyscrapers that have images to the virgin Mary carved above doorways or enshrined in a prominent position.
The area of modern Luxembourg was specifically targeted by the Roman Catholic Church as a region to establish a bulwark for the Counter-Reformation. What the Protestant Reformation was able to achieve the Roman Catholic Counter-Reformation attempted to undermine. In Luxembourg the Roman Church prevailed. In 1594 Jesuit missionaries settled in this area for the specific purpose of opposing the reforms instituted by Martin Luther and others. The Jesuits who settled in Luxembourg were fanatical followers of the virgin Mary. By the early 1600s a college church was dedicated to Mary, and in 1624 worship of a Marian statue with supposed miraculous powers was instituted. The name of this image, still displayed in the cathedral today, is Our Lady Comforter of the Afflicted. In 1666 Mary was elected to the position of patron saint of the city of Luxembourg, while in 1678 she was elected to be patron saint of the entire Duchy of Luxembourg. The deliberate attempt to propagate devotion to Mary was an attempt to squelch a ôback to the Bibleö movement which was occurring in neighboring regions. This oppression of Protestant doctrine was so successful in Luxembourg, that in 1870 the Church of Our Lady was elevated to a cathedral, and in 1988 was raised to the status of an archdiocese.
The culture of Luxembourg revolves around the Cathedral of Our Lady of Luxembourg. This building and its activities is an integral part of the life of the people. Yearly pilgrimages are made to this cathedral from citizens all throughout Luxembourg, some taking several days to complete. For a politician or other community leader to be successful, attendance at cathedral events is mandatory, as non-Roman Catholics are excluded from leadership positions in society. Pilgrims march in enormous parades, which are focused on the idol of the virgin Mary, the same image which helped establish the city in the early 1600s. The fetish is dressed in stylized gowns and changed according to the different religious festivals and pilgrimages. The image is adored by thousands as it is carried through the streets of the capital, covered with sumptuous jewels and a crown of divinity.
A visitor to the Luxembourg Cathedral will certainly be impressed by the architecture of this magnificent building. The ground plan is in the form of a Latin cross, with beautiful marble artwork, tapestries, paintings, and ornate hand carved arches which provide both a sense of space and strength to the interior of the building. Upon entering the cathedral there is no question as to who is the primary object of worship, as a ten foot tall marble statue of Mary, simply robed, welcomes visitors. Carved on the gigantic wooden doors are scenes from the life of Mary both from Biblical history and medieval traditions. In these artistic models Mary is described as assumed sinless into heaven, a mediator, queen of Heaven, patroness of the afflicted, and as an object of prayer. Upon entering the building taped Gregorian chants provide a somber mood, while a very important theological statement is made in a prominent stained glass artwork. Here Mary is depicted as a crowned queen holding the city of Luxembourg in her right hand, with her foot crushing the symbol for secular authority. The statement is clear. Mary rules Luxembourg as a divine sovereign and has no equals, religious or civil. She is the queen of the nation.
The actual image of Mary worshiped at this cathedral is rather ordinary. While adoration towards this four foot tall statue began around 1624, the size and shape of the image itself is not significant. The key factor in the veneration of the image is its supposed power to protect and comfort the people of Luxembourg. The wooden idol depicts Mary as a queen, crowned with an elaborate gold and blue colored crown and with a large ruling staff in her right hand. In her left hand she holds an image of the infant Jesus, which is clearly in submission to his mother. Sometimes the idol is dressed in a wig, or her crowns are changed, or a different style scepter is placed in her hands. Based on various feasts, her royal garments are changed. While not being paraded on processions, the image rests in a wrought-iron altar in the cathedral, surrounded by flowers, candles, and carvings of adoring angels.
While secularism has pervaded most of Europe, Luxembourg remains an exception. The people of this nation are a religious people, entrenched in Roman Catholicism. From the simple farmers in the northern pasturelands to the sophisticated urban businessmen in the capital city, mariolotry prevails. Loyalty to the Roman Church remains largely unquestioned. In fact, it is a patriotic duty to be a follower of Mary, so much so that those few who reject veneration of Mary are outcasts of Luxembourg society.
As I observed streams of people of various ages entering the Luxembourg Cathedral, my mind was taken to Biblical passages in Isaiah.
They lavish gold out of the bag, and weigh silver in the balance, and hire a goldsmith; and he maketh it a god: they fall down, yea, they worship.
They bear it upon the shoulder, they carry it, and set it in its place, and it standeth; from its place it shall not remove: Yea, one shall cry unto it, yet it is not able to answer, nor save him out of his troubles.
They have no knowledge that set up the wood of their carved image, and cry unto a god that cannot save.
They shall be ashamed, and also confounded, all of them: they shall go to confusion together that are makers of idols.
Excerpts from Isaiah 45-46
Just as the idolaters in Bible days were as spiritually mute as the idols they adored, and needed the Word of God to correct them, so the people of Luxembourg are in desperate need of a reversal of the successes gained from the Roman Catholic Counter-Reformation. Devotion to Mary as smothered the Biblical gospel of genuine salvation in this beautiful and historic land.
